Thomas price



{No Model.)

T. PRICE.

THILL SUPPORT.

Patented Feb. 18, 1896.

INVENTOH By M MAMA- ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT DEEICE.

THOMAS PRICE, OF ITASOA, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND ALEXANDER WV.KERR, OF SAME PLACE.

THlLL-SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,953, dated February18, 1896.

Application filed July 24:, 1895. Serial No. 557,036. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern! Be it known that LTHOMAs PRICE, of Itasca, inthe county of Hill and State of Texas, have invented a new and ImprovedAntirattling Attachment for Thill-Oouplin gs, of which the followingis af ull,clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an antirattling attachment for thill-couplingsor thill-irons; and it has for its object to construct such anattachment, practically of a single piece of material, and enable it tobe readily applied to any axle and any thill, and furthermore to causethe device to exert constant and sufficient pressure on the eye of thethill-iron and prevent rattling where the iron is connected with theaxle-clip and at the same time to cause the device to exert a rollingtension on the forward face of the thill-iron in a rearwardly direction,the latter tension being of such an extent that the shafts and thillswill be practically balanced when the horse is attached thereto, andwherein when the animal.

is disengaged from the shafts the device will serve to automaticallycarry and hold the shaft or thills in an upright or practically verticaldirection.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of theseveral parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed outin the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the antirattling attachment and thelower portion of the thill and thill-iron to which it is applied, theaxle being in section. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the devicedetached from the thills and axle. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of thecushion, against which the device has bearing at one of its ends; andFig. 4 is a perspective view of the preferred form of clip used, theclip-plate not being shown.

In carrying out the invention the antirattling device, as shown indetail in Fig. 2, is made from one piece of spring wire of suitablesize, and comprises rear arched or curved body members 10, each of whichat its lower end is continued in the form of a coil 11, and from the twocoils a single tongue 12 is made to emanate, and the said tongue isgiven an upwardly and forwardly direction and is located about centrallybetween the rear or body members 10. p

In the detail formation of the tongue 12 its forward extremity isdecidedly arched or convexed on the top, forming an under concavedsurface 13, (shown particularly in Fig. 1,) and back of the convexedupper surface of the tongue and adjoining the upright members of ,thecoils at the back of the tongue a concavity 14 is made in the upper faceof said tongue. The extremities of the body members 10 are bent inwardlyupon themselves and serve to journal a friction-roller 15, the spring ortension of the wire being such as to cause the said body members topractically clamp the friction-roller, which is preferably made ofmetal.

The clip A is attached to the axle with the ordinary clip-plate 16, andthe clip is provided upon its forward face with two horizontal ears 17,receiving the pivot-pin of the eye 18 of the thill-iron 19, the thill 20being secured to the iron in any suitable or approved manner.

In connection with the antirattling attachment a cushion 21 is employed,which is preferably of leather, and this cushion, as shown in Fig. 1, ismade to rest upon and extend partially around the upper or rear face ofthe eye of the thill-iron.

In applying the attachment the forward end of the tongue 12 is carriedup between the eye of the thill-iron and the forward ends of the clip,between the ears 17 of the latter, and its concaved under face is madeto rest on the cushion 21. The upper concavity of the tongue near itsrear or lower end is adapted for engagement with the axle or with theends of the clip-plate 16, and the antirattling pressure is obtained atthis point usually by the pressure of the tongue against the forwardlower edge of the axle. The coils 11 will now be beneath the axle, andthe friction-roller 15 having been removed and the thill hoisted upward,the body-arms of the attachment are carried forward, one at each side ofthe thill, and the said arms are then suifered to spring into thefriction-roller 15, which is shaped to receive the forward face of thethill-iron 19.

By means of this attachment all rattling on the part of thethill-coupling is prevented.

The attachment is exceedingly simple, capable of being readily andexpeditiously applied; the frietion-roller 15 serves to prevent any wearand tear of the thill-iron, and the cushion 21 prevents any wear on theeye of the thill-iron, and in addition to serving as an antirattler,when a horse is not harnessed to the vehicle the thills will beautomatically carried up out of the way.

Having thus described my invention, -I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. An antirattling attachment for thillcouplings,consisting of a single piece of spring-wire bent upon itself to formparallel curved body-bars, coils at the lower extremities of thebodybars, a tongue similarly curved to the body-bars, located beneathand between the same and emanating from the said coils, the said tonguehaving its under face concaved at its forward extremity and its upperface concaved above and near its junction with the coils, as shown at14, the extremities of the body-bars being bent inwardly toward eachother to serve as journals for a friction-roller, as and for the purposespecified.

2. The combination, with an axle, a clip secured to the axle, athill-iron the eye of which is pivoted in offsets from the clip, and acushion located upon the rear portion of the said eye, of anantirattling attachment, the same consisting of arms curved from a pointbelow the axle upwardly and forwardly, one at each side of thethill-iron, a friction-roller carried by the forward ends of the arms,being in engagement with the forward face of the said thill-iron, a coilformed at the lower end of each of the said arms and located beneath theaxle, and a tongue, being a continuation of the said coils, which tongueis carried upward with a compound curve, as shown at 14, 13 inengagement with an edge of the axle and to an engagement with thecushion on the eye of the thill, the said antirattling attachment beingmade of a spring material, substantially as described.

THOMAS PRICE. Witnesses:

ED. WILKINSON, I. P. MARTIN.

